UNITED STATES—Its been talked about for weeks people and on Monday the American public got its first taste of what Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump are planning to offer to the world if elected into office. Yes, it was a highly anticipated debate people, because in my honest opinion, the debates are critical. They give voters a snapshot of what we can expect from our candidates in regards to specific issues of importance.
Of course, issues like education, the work force, housing, healthcare, foreign policy, terrorism and many others were at the forefront. However, the big question everyone wanted to know was how Donald and Hillary would behave towards one another. Why is this important? We don’t want to see a debate where harsh personal comments are traded between both candidates; we want to see ISSUES debated, not personal jabs. It was a treat to see both Hillary and Donald shake hands before the actual debate got underway, which was certain to be a must-see not only those in the political arena, but those on the fence about which candidate to vote for.
Things kicked off with issues of employment and jobs for the American people. Yes, it’s very clear that we live in a world where so many people are indeed living from paycheck to paycheck. Hillary addressed the question talking about the expansion of small businesses, raising the minimum wage; more profit-sharing from companies and forcing the top-tier taxpayers to pay higher tax rates than what they are currently paying. Trump paid a lot of focus to jobs going overseas and how China is having a vital impact in that arena.
The spars arrived when issues of bringing manufactures back to the U.S. came to the forefront. Donald definitely wanted to make his voice heard, while Hillary, kept a composure, where it almost felt she had to take a pause here and there to collect her thoughts. Donald continued to harp on the issue on the fact that she has had over 30 years to try to fix issues with jobs in America. Trump adamantly went after Clinton on NAFTA and her failure to acknowledge her approval of the program. Wow, only 30 minutes into the debate and things are quite heated between these two candidates. Some would argue it only took moments for Donald to lose his composure. Whether he was presidential or not can be argued depending on what side you’re on. It was quite annoying to see Donald interrupt Hillary every moment she had the opportunity to chat, without getting her point across regarding revised tax plans for the country.
Finally, someone talked about the issue regarding Donald Trump not releasing his tax returns to the American public. He acknowledged that he is going through an intensive tax audit at the moment and once that is completed all details will be released without hesitation. However, he still skirted the issue, hmm, are you hiding something Donald? There was uproar in the room when he asked for Clinton to release her emails, which made it clear who in the room was rooting for him. It was big of Clinton to finally acknowledge her wrong doing of using a private server for her emails, but we all know this is not the last of what we’ve heard about this issue people. Big blow to Trump when Clinton called Trump out on filing bankruptcy on several occasions, and he acknowledged that he utilized certain laws to his advantage, not certain if that was a wink at him doing what others have done or that more people should do it.
Now this is a major issue, to discuss issues of racial divide in the country and the latest incidents involving police issues from both candidates. Clinton brought up both issues in Tulsa, OK and Charlotte, NC. Trump made the argument that ‘law and order’ is needed in America, but he did not discuss the issue of racial divide. I seriously didn’t like Donald’s approach on this issue, it sounded like he was evading the question, and he further showcased that he has a major divide between minorities in America. Really, you’re advocating stop-and-frisk? I got the impression Hillary was not afraid to talk about race relations, whereas Donald was weary of actually taking a stance on race relations in America.
Hillary totally won this round against Trump regarding the issue of race, whereas I would give the topic of manufacturing jobs to Trump who was relentless in getting his point across. Hillary dug deep hitting Donald on the birthing rights of current President Barack Obama and that Trump was sued for discrimination for housing practices in the 70s. I did find the issue of cyberattacks to be a weak topic of focus. I mean we could have discussed more prevalent issues pertaining to education or foreign policy. Trump discussed issues with Isis, which was well-countered by Clinton and how former President Bush impacted the stationing of troops in Iraq post the end of that war. Jeez, Donald you shouldn’t be super disrespectful with the moderator. If you made a statement, you made a statement; plain and simple people.
So who won the debate, in my personal opinion it was a draw, both had strong points, yet I would make the case that Trump was more easily rattled and lost his composure, whereas, it seemed Hillary didn’t lose her cool, when difficult topics came to the forefront. With round one out of the way, it will be important for both candidates to knock things out of the park for the rounds 2 and 3.
